Stromberg Shipping
Stromberg Shipping Lines, or simply Stromberg Shipping, was a fictional international shipping company founded and owned by wealthy entrepreneur, Karl Stromberg. Ostensibly specializing in the transportation of crude oil, the company was a front for the apocalyptic scheming of its founder. The organization was created for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and its accompanying novelisation, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me. It was also later re-imagined for the 2008 mobile video-game, James Bond: Top Agent. Appearances ''The Spy Who Loved Me (film) Stromberg Shipping Lines was one of the most influential oil shipping companies in the world, operating a fleet which included the ''Liparus, the second largest tanker by gross tonnage in the world. The company had made its founder, Karl Stromberg, one of the richest men in the world. With his vast wealth, Stromberg also operated an oceanographic research laboratory and underwater habitation project in Sardinia, named after the legendary city of Atlantis. The company's symbol - seen across Stromberg's empire - was a squat monochrome fish standing on its tail. Its rank and file employees typically wore military-style uniforms, consisting of orange and silver jumpsuits, often with black (surface) or orange (submarine) berets bearing the fish insignia. Officers were attired in orange blazers with shoulder rank epaulettes and matching trousers, a black shirt and silver combat helmets. Submarine crews wore orange outfits in a different style, with salmon-coloured button-up shirts, a black submarine badge on their chests and salmon-coloured rank slides on their shoulders. Submarine crew officers also had orange peaked caps with shiny black bills. Unbeknownst to the world, Stromberg intended to use his business assets to purge the world in a nuclear war; starting a new civilization under the ocean. The Liparus was in fact constructed to hunt and capture Western and Soviet nuclear submarines, using a state-of-the-art submarine tracking system developed by Dr. Bechmann and Professor Markovitz. The tanker was responsible for the disappearance of the British HMS Ranger and the Soviet submarine Potemkin, along with their payload of atomic intercontinental ballistic missiles. The villain's scheme to destroy New York and Moscow was foiled after an employee leaked confidential information related to the tracking equipment; gaining the attention of both the British and Soviet intelligence services and ultimately ending with the death of Stromberg and the destruction of the Liparus and Atlantis. The fate of Stromberg Shipping following his death is unknown but it is possible that the company is shut down afterwards. Alternate continuities ''James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me In Christopher Wood's novelization, the Stromberg Shipping Line was founded after the Second World War by Swedish entrepreneur, Sigmund Stromberg. Now based in Hamburg, the young Stromberg took advantage of the post-war need for a merchant fleet; initially operating a fleet of shabby cargo boats and later tankers.James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me, Christopher Wood, Jonathan Cape, 1977, ''Chapter 5: Introducing Sigmund Stromberg. He subsequently consolidated his position in the criminal underworld by bombing the leaders of eight of the most important criminal groups in Europe during a meeting aboard his largest tanker, the Ingemar. Following the bombing, Stromberg murdered a wealthy Greek shipping magnate and acquired the dead man's shipping interests. Since then, he was suspected of involvement in a recent spate of tankers that had broken up in American waters - all of them belonging to rival operators.James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me, Christopher Wood, Jonathan Cape, 1977, Chapter 13: A Marriage of Convenience. By the novel's events, Stromberg Shipping operated a fleet of four super-tankers with an individual dead weight in excess of four hundred and fifty thousand tons. The latest addition to the Stromberg line, the Lepadus, weighed over six hundred thousand tons.James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me, Christopher Wood, Jonathan Cape, 1977, Chapter 15: Motorcycles are Dangerous. Following a similar plot to the film, the company and its megalomaniacal founder suffer the same fate as their cinematic counterparts. ''James Bond: Top Agent The 2008 mobile video-game ''James Bond: Top Agent pits the player's character against Stromberg and closely follows the plot of the 1977 film. Starting with the capture of the American submarine USS Wayne, the player fights turn-based, one-on-one battles with Stromberg's men - attempting to cross the Liparus submarine dock, release the prisoners and apprehend the villain before he either escapes or launches the stolen nuclear weapons. On level 9, the player confronts Jaws - the ship's boss character - in the control room. Despite its post-2006 soft-reboot launch, the game's Liparus contains much of the classic 1970s iconography, from the Stromberg fish insignia to the giant golden globe of the submarine tracking system. Known associates & structure *Stromberg — Founder **Unnamed — Captain, Liparus ***Unnamed — Captain, Stromberg 1 ***Unnamed — Captain, Stromberg 2 **Naomi — Enforcer, Pilot **Jaws — Enforcer **Sandor — Enforcer **Kate Chapman — Assistant to Stromberg **Dr. Bechmann — Scientist; contracted **Professor Markovitz — Scientist; contracted **Bent Krogh (novelisation) Assets *''Atlantis'' *''Liparus'' / Lepadus (novelisation) *''Ingemar'' (novelisation) *Unnamed super-tanker (novelisation) *Unnamed super-tanker (novelisation) *Unnamed super-tanker (novelisation) *Bell 206 JetRanger *Shark Hunter II submersible *Riva speedboat (novelisation) Images References Category:Organizations Category:Private companies Category:Criminal organizations Category:Criminal front organizations